If All Else Fails
by hundredtimes
Summary: When Jasper joins the Basketball team, Maggie can't help but take inventory of their friendship, and wonder if she really should have said no when he asked. Takes place during Fountain of Truth.  Maggie's POV Jaggie
1. Chapter One

**If All Else Fails**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything!

Pairing: Maggie/Jasper

Summary: When Jasper joins the Basketball team, Maggie can't help but take inventory of their friendship, and wonder if she really should have said no when he asked. Takes place during Fountain of Truth.

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* * *

Chapter One**

Maggie hated it when he put himself down. Especially when he did it because he thought he was letting his father down. This morning's conversation was about sports, and his last attempt to do his father proud. "I already failed at football, and baseball, and soccer. And there was that ridiculous attempt at curling."

Even if it were a ridiculous sport, it was still an Olympic sport. She found herself defending him, "I thought you were very good with that brush." She knew she sounded condescending, and she looked at Henry quickly to get him to support her. Henry obviously didn't follow what she was hinting at, and Jasper just looked discouraged.

"I didn't know being an athlete was so important to you," Henry used his 'I'm confused' voice, and she knew he didn't understand his cousin as well as she did.

"Does this body look like it wants to be a jock?" Maggie couldn't control her eyes as they roved down his body. She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head in her approving fashion, but caught herself in time to rush her eyes back up before anyone noticed her lapse in control. He did ask, after all.

Jasper went on to explain exactly what she knew to be the root of the problem, and his current obsession with timed intervals of sickening protein bars. His father. Jasper had this inane notion that his father wanted a jock more than a genius. She knew all Mr. Bartlett wanted was for his son to try his best, but for Jasper that wasn't the case.

Most of it stemmed from Jasper's own inability to be proud of himself. Maybe Basketball would be his niche in sports, and she would have to bite her tongue. But she didn't think he would be any better at basketball then he had been at tennis. At least a racket wouldn't go flying out of his hand in basketball, though he may overshoot the basket. That probably wouldn't result in a black eye though.

"I mean, how does it look for the dean's son to be totally inept in school sports?"

"The whole school is inept at school sports. The Tornadoes haven't had a winning season." Yet Jasper still felt like he failed at sports. Everyone else just didn't suck as bad. She wished he would see in him what she did. What his father did. That he did his best at everything he tried, and that was an admirable quality more people should possess.

As they continued to walk down the hall, Jasper saying he was going to own the basketball court, Dean Bartlett opened his office door and stopped us. Henry was needed at some meeting, effectively getting him out of the Euro Quiz for the day. She smiled when Jasper asked if he could be needed in the meeting too.

Professor Darkness passed by, effectively ignoring her in his address, "Dean Bartlett, boys. Assuming you won't be late, I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible." Then again, everyone in their group considered her 'one of the boys,' she stole a glance at Jasper, or they did now. As he passed, she heard his snide, "nice breakfast, Jasper."

As Henry walked away, she quickly made her way closer to Jasper. She turned to go, but he asked Henry what his business with Professor Darkness was about, Henry had no idea. Maggie knew they would find out as soon as Henry got back to campus, so she didn't let it bother her.

As he turned to leave, Henry offered a casual, "good luck on the quiz." Not sounding the least bit concerned.

"Good luck with him," Maggie turned to find Jasper with his mouth full of power bar.

The look he gave her, well it shouldn't have been allowed in public, and she felt her insides shiver in delight. But then he opened his mouth, "chewy," and she realized the look she thought meant 'thank god, we're alone,' actually meant he hadn't given up his earlier defense that his power bars were going to solve his problems.

She rolled her eyes at his stupidity, "nutty," she called him and walked off.

He followed her immediately, and they walked in the comfortable companionship they were so used to.

This was why she had said no to him. She didn't have any other friends like Jasper. Some might think it was a good thing, but she knew what it was. He was her best friend, and even though he was insecure and silly, she wouldn't trade him for the world.

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I had planned this to be a multi-chapter story, but I also wanted to leave it in a good place for a one-shot. What do you think?


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

During the Euro Quiz, Maggie kept stealing glances at Jasper. Seated in alphabetical order for tests, she knew he wouldn't see her, even if he were paying attention to anything besides the test. He was already on the third page. Did he really know all those answers without thinking about them? She was only on the second page, and here he was halfway down the middle mark. He was concentrating really hard on it, so she knew he wasn't guessing. After all, Jasper didn't guess. He had Yale to get into and Maggie Winnock to beat in academics.

Why couldn't he see how good he was? He didn't need to be a jock to have his father proud of him. To have her proud of him. She certainly didn't want to be in the posse of a jock. She smirked and turned her head down. Oh, hell. She hadn't moved from question 23. Jasper was already half finished.

She shook her head forcefully to clear her thoughts; she had been raised with her father's military mentality. Focus. Determination. Discipline. She shouldn't be unfocussed in something as simple as a Euro Quiz.

She didn't notice when Jasper had turned in his quiz and left the room, but after she had double checked all her answers and got up to turn in her own quiz, she saw his desk near the front of the classroom was empty. Of course he had already finished, she took a break mid-quiz to stare. Stupid mistakes like that caused lower grades. She could have run out of time, or had to guess answers.

Walking out of the door, Maggie thought he would have to wait to see Jasper at lunch. But he was waiting right outside the door. She smiled and walked over to him, "how did you do?" She knew what he was going to say, "Pretty good," along with a one-shoulder shrug. He wasn't a fan of false modesty, especially when it came to besting her. "You took longer than usual to finish, how do you think _you_ did?"

Maggie felt the heat rise to her cheeks; she was trying to think of an excuse when Henry saved her from the embarrassment of having to stumble over her words. "You need to come down to the DOUM rooms, something weird has happened."

* * *

"A plant? Someone almost burned down the DOUM rooms to steal shrubbery." Jasper had a point, the more Henry explained what happened, the less it made sense.

Maggie felt bad for Henry, his godfather had entrusted him with something important, and no one even knew what it was. She tried to help him out, and move past Jasper's sarcasm. It wasn't doing much good to comfort Henry. "What else was in the box?"

"I don't know, knowing Dante there could have been a false bottom, or maybe something important woven in the sides, message in the design on the base- I don't know. All that was left is this." He looked so lost and confused; she felt her heart go out to him.

Jasper reached to what he had pointed at, across her. She felt him brush her arm as he grabbed the encyclopedia. Her eyes followed his hand, and she looked at him as he read the spine. "Hmm. P-2003, that's... random."

She looked back at Henry and saw that he was still distraught. She sighed, "Henry, this wasn't your fault, look at all the stuff you saved in the warehouse."

"But I lost the one thing that was important to me."

It was then Jasper followed her lead, "You didn't lose it, someone stole it from you." She turned her head and felt the corner of her mouth turn up. He knew just as much as her that this was not Henry's fault. And they both knew they were going to get back whatever had been taken.

"Whoever took it knew I wouldn't let Dante's box out of my sight unless they literally set fire to me."

Maggie sighed frustratingly and explained what Henry was obviously missing. This was not his fault. "And tampered with the extinguisher, and added oil to that bucket of water."

"Professor Darkness." Jasper sounded far too sure that Julian was behind what happened in the DOUM rooms. Apparently they weren't on the same page Maggie thought they were.

"You really think Julian Morneau would go this far?" The incredulousness that crept into her voice was completely intentional. Sometimes Jasper took his contempt for the man too far.

Before they could explore the theory any further, Broxton and the fire inspectors accused Henry of accidentally starting the fire. What was more surprising than the accusations was Henry's complete acceptance of them. "I can't believe I would do something so stupid"

Once again, Jasper knew her thoughts before she could even make them, "I- I can't believe you'd do something so brave. Most people would have just run." She gave him a silent thank you before butting in her own opinion.

"But not Henry Griffin. He reached right into those flames and prevented a national catastrophe, he could get some kind of presidential medal for this." She knew she was going a little overboard. She crossed her arms over her chest in silent defense.

After it was decided the incident would be left a simple intern mistake. They ran over the list of people who could have both known Henry had the box, and wanted what was inside. Besides Morneau. "And Dad." Maggie turned in disbelief to Jasper when he mentioned his own father. He apparently caught his mistake as well, since he quickly amended it, "Okay, don't tell him I said that. He'll be disappointed enough when he sees me play basketball." She turned back around and shook her head. He really was a big galoot sometimes. The she heard his watch go off, "Snack time!" She pulled out a mashed snack bar and immediately tore into it. She couldn't help but be disgusted.

As he tore into his sad excuse of a source of protein, she leaned back in her chair, but noticed with a start he had moved his hand from where it had been resting. Every time she had leaned back, she felt the trace of his thumb run along her shoulder blade once or twice every now and then. Henry made to leave and they immediately followed, not really having any reason to be in the DOUM rooms without him.

She glanced at Jasper but he was already halfway out the door, chomping on his protein bar, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Which was true. They had such ease between them. Almost as though they were never more relaxed than when in each other's presence. Too bad that feeling didn't extend to her rapidly beating heart.

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Please let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Once school was over, Jasper had to go to the gym to get ready for his big game. Henry wished him luck, and Maggie gave him a hug, "You'll do great Jasper," she tried to sound as reassuring as possible, but it didn't seem to help.

He looked like a lamb being led to slaughter, but he still tried to be brave, "You're right. I feel stronger already. I'm going to own that court!" If it was a show to convince them or him, Maggie wasn't sure, but she smiled when he said it.

She rolled her eyes, and left, Henry right behind her. They still had some time before the game started so they walked around the school talking about the problem at hand. Henry's missing 'inheritance'.

"Dante said he trusted me above all others to keep it safe," Maggie couldn't believe he still blamed himself.

"Henry, you were set up."

"I know. I'm trying to figure out by who." At least he no longer blamed himself, now they could focus entirely on finding out who stole the plant.

A locker slammed to her right, and she noticed the Tornadoes royal blue jacket. Great a cheerleader. She saw Henry look interested, and couldn't believe what she was seeing. Apparently all males found preppy, dimwitted girls attractive. He even had the audacity to make an "mmm" noise. But she realized he might not be as dumb as he looks when he said, "Vanilla bean with a hint of nutmeg." She should have known he was only commenting on the baked goods in her paper bag.

"Oh," Maggie cringed slightly; the cheerleader had the same irritatingly high-pitched voice the rest of her cronies did. They thought it made them sound cute, and innocent, just like the boys wanted. Maggie thought it made them sound idiotic. The cheerleader took out a muffin and smelled it, shrugging her shoulders, "maybe, I just mix whatever comes in the box with water," and then she gave a dopy giggle. Maggie glared at the mindless dolt in front of her. This was the kind of girls the popular kids wanted. The kind of girl Jasper wanted. At least now. Now that he had a posse because he was a jock. Now that she had turned him down.

Maggie closed her eyes for a second to clear her head. No, he wasn't on the team for girls. He was on it to impress his father. She had to stop thinking like this.

"Oh, don't forget to cheer. Oh, and do the tornado spin during half time." Maggie smiled as Henry went to inspect the muffins more. But then the cheerleader ripped them out of his hands, "oh, nuh uh," she said demeaningly as she shook her finger, "players only." Maggie could only stare at her in shock. "Hurry the game's already started," she ran away with her duffle bag, and closely guarded muffins towards the gym.

Maggie felt excited. Jasper was going to be in that game, and she hoped he would do great. She always hoped he would do great when he tried a new sport. She still held onto the hope that Basketball would be the sport that made him happy with himself, and realize his father was always proud of him.

Maggie noticed then that Henry had look of sudden understanding. He seemed to be lost in his own world, "Henry," she said, trying to wake him out of it.

"She's right, the game _has _already started."

"I know, and we're late," she hoped Jasper wouldn't notice. That would be all he needed to make his day worse, his friends not there to support him.

"Not the Basketball game, Dante's game." He turned down the hall and she followed, trying to follow his train of thought as well. "Dante loved puzzles and riddles, he even said he left me a very puzzling message in the letter. I need to figure out what his letter was trying to tell me."

Maggie instantly understood, "And you think if you decipher the secret, it will help you find out who stole the box."

"First learn, then protect. The only lead I have."

Maggie was excited, she loved a good mystery, but hated when they got stuck and couldn't figure it out. Now, they had a lead. It was up to Henry to figure out where that lead led. He knew Dante the best.

But first, they had a friend to support as his team lost another game.

* * *

I'm sorry this chapter is so short, But I'm actually only 10 minutes into the episode so far. (I watch it as I write the scenes to get their words right, and to see the subtle things) I'm separating chapters by cut scene.


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a warm, tornados welcome to the eagles! For our annual preseason tournament." The announcer seemed too excited for what was sure to be an upsetting game for the home team. Maggie and Henry rushed to the doors of the gym; Maggie hoped Jasper hadn't noticed they weren't cheering him on from the stands. "GOOO TORNADOS!"

They walked into the gym, and Maggie began looking for Jasper on the court. Following Henry as he led them to a free space on the bleachers. She didn't see him. "Look at those eagles soar! That's another two points on the board." Maybe the announcer didn't go to their high school.

Looking at the bench, Maggie saw Jasper, sitting with his warm up suit still on, looking disappointed as ever. The more they watched, the worse they felt. Jasper looked so disheartened that Maggie could barely stay to watch. But she had promised Jasper that she would be there to support him.

By the time the final quarter came around, she was beginning to get frustrated. "We're down by ten, there's only twenty seconds left, and even the parents are leaving. Why won't the coach put Jasper in?" She didn't understand it, sure he wasn't known for his athletic prowess, but he had to have a better shot than the five players the coach _still_ had on the court. They were exhausted, and doing worse than they had at the beginning of the game. At least Jasper would be fresh and still energetic.

"Pecking order. In the wild, junior member of the tribe are forced to take a back seat. While the ones with seniority take the lead." Henry seemed to understand the way American sports worked better than she did. She could only shake her head at the unfairness of it.

"Ow! My ankle!" Quickly looking at the court, Maggie saw that O'Hurley was writhing underneath the basket. Maybe if the coach had given some of his players a break, then he wouldn't have hurt himself.

Everyone in the gym looked onto the court with much more interest than they had before. An injury always made people more rapt. "Looks like his ankle! Give it up for your team captain!" Maggie clapped less than enthusiastically. She really didn't like O'Hurley and the way he always treated Jasper.

Maggie didn't realize what O'Hurley's injury could mean until she heard Dean Bartlett shout, "Alright Jasper!" She looked back at the bench Jasper was sitting on, and saw him pulling his warm up shirt over his head. She smiled and began clapping harder.

"Then there's the moment when the young male gets his chance to rise to the occasion, earning his rightful place in the order." Maggie could only glance as Henry continued his comparison of high school sports with tribal ritual. She was too busy watching Jasper make his court debut.

Jasper stood there for a moment, unsure of what he should do, but then it was as though his instincts kicked in, and he ran across the court. "GO JASPER! WHOO!" She cheered with everything she had, even going so far as to cup her mouth to amplify her shouts and throwing a fist in the air. She hoped he heard her; it would make the embarrassment- over her cheerleader like antics -she would later feel be well worth it.

He was in the perfect position to catch a toss by another player, and Maggie noticed he did so well. Maybe Basketball really was his sport. Jasper stood dumbstruck for a second, before he took the initiative to throw the ball into the hoop. While it bounced out of the basket, it did hit the rim. Which was more than a lot of the other players in the starting line up could say.

The eagles began cheering, and celebrating, but Maggie could only see Jasper who looked so dejected, standing in the same spot he had thrown the ball from. She heard Henry make a comment, but as she rubbed her hands together in defeat, she didn't hear him. She sighed and watched him walk off the field. His father's cheered, "It's alright Jasper!" And, "way to go guys!" But Maggie knew it wasn't what Jasper wanted to hear. It was never what he wanted to hear.

Maggie watched as the team walked off the court, given muffins by the brainless dolt she and Henry had seen in the hallway. She saw him look at his dad, who was now standing and clapping for his son. Then she saw him glance and her and Henry, and she wished they had already left, so he wouldn't know they had seen him embarrass himself, or so he thought of it.

She wished she could convince him he had done a great job, even with only two seconds on the court, he'd come closer to scoring points than many of his teammates. As she watched him leave the gym, his feet nearly dragging, and his shoulders hunched, she knew he needed some time to himself. She would leave him alone for the time being.

She turned to Henry, "c'mon. Walk with me to my locker. We'll see Jasper later." She sighed deeply and left the gym, Henry following her. She wished she could be the support system he needed, especially at times like this.

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Did anyone else notice the discrepancies with this episode? There was Football in the first episode, now Basketball, but in The Liberian Candidate they were having football try outs... Which should have already taken place. Plus, if Jasper had scored the three points by making that basket (he was at the 3 point line) they were still down by 10... so it wouldn't have really mattered to the eagles, who acted like it was a god send he didn't make the basket, though it would have been good for Jasper's self esteem, even if they hadn't won... Whatever, this show has a LOT of continuation errors, I still LOVE it!

Let me know what you think!

PS- I know I said this last chapter, but I want to clarify. I watch the episode as I write this, for the most part, what they are actually SAYING, is directly from the script. It's Maggie's inner thoughts that this story is about. Also, I add some lines here and there, in the beginning/end.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

Digging through her locker, grabbing the books she needed for her homework that night, Maggie continued to throw ideas around to help solve the issue at hand. "Maybe Jasper can help. He's more brain than brawn anyway." She noticed Henry was holding the encyclopedia extremely close to his chest, resting his chin on it, protecting it, but nodding at her suggestion nonetheless.

Closing her locker, she saw Dean Bartlett heading towards them, Professor Ortiz by his side. He was obviously eager to gush about his son to two people he knew would share his enthusiasm. The pride in his voice made her smile, "that Jasper really gives it all he's got, doesn't he? A lesser man would have been too afraid of failure to take a shot like that."

"Speaking of not being afraid," Ortiz turned to Henry and commended him, "Your uncle told me about your DOUM room heroics today. Dante would have been really proud of you for keeping everything safe down there."

Maggie saw Henry visibly deflate, but quickly put a smile back on his face, "I tried." She smiled to herself, wishing he would just stop blaming himself. He didn't think Dante would be proud of him at all. '_What is it with these Bartlett boys and thinking they've let down the people important to them?'_ She thought as she watched the exchange between Henry and Ortiz.

"And Henry, let me know if you have any problems with Professor Morneau. He can be quite... combustible when it comes to his father." Maggie thought his terminology to be strange, and could hardly contain the strange look she gave him.

"Encyclopedia. I haven't seen one of those since the pre-laptop era." Dean Bartlett looked a tad suspicious, but before Maggie could think of a legitimate reason why they were looking through an encyclopedia.

"Oh, what can I say, I'm just an old school kind of guy." Henry's quick reflexes save the day again. She was surprised at both his quick answer, and his use of modern slang.

"Well, discovery awaits. Felix, I didn't know you were such a hoops fan." Dean Bartlett and Ortiz walked away, continuing to discuss basketball.

"What did he just say?" Henry and Maggie watched the two professors walk away with equal looks of shock on their face.

"That Professor Morneau was combustible. Even Doctor Ortiz thinks he did it." She couldn't believe a professor would stoop so low to blame a fellow teacher of something like theft and arson. Wait, that didn't make sense, Ortiz had no idea about the theft… Maybe he just didn't like Morneau. But still, they shouldn't use speculation to blame a teacher for something they have no proof of.

"No, what did Uncle Bryan say?" Henry looked as though he had figured out a huge clue. He looked down at the Encyclopedia in his hands. "It's written right here on the cover."

She read the cover, "World Look Encyclopedia- discovery awaits?" She was beginning to doubt him, but then again, he did know Dante better than anyone. Maybe this was going somewhere.

"Dante said, when I'm open to discovery," he open the front cover, "the answer will be left." He looked intent on at some writing in the upper corner of the cover. "There's something here in Dante's handwriting. P 438" He flipped through the pages, and she waited anxiously for the next clue. "There is no page 438." Maggie looked at him, slightly shocked. "Dante said he trusted me above all others because I never leave anything incomplete."

It was then Maggie saw Jasper walking through the hall, barely noticing the people he brushed by on his way to them. Maybe the mystery would cheer him up, get his mind off the game, and prove that he did have something redeeming about him.

"Yea, unlike me." Maybe it wouldn't help as much as she had hoped. "One lousy shot, and I couldn't even make that. Some replacement I turned out to be," well now he was just trying to have a pity party for himself.

"Jasper," she tried to stop him from getting down on himself any more than he already had, "you bounced the ball, you shot it _at_ the basket, and you didn't trip"

He gave her a look that said he didn't much like her interrupting his pity party, but before he could comment, Henry changed the subject with a vague transition. "You also just told me what the next clue means," he walked off without another word.

"Okay, I'm officially clueless." They made to follow him as he quickly walked down the hall way and out the doors, but could barely keep up. Henry was a man on a mission.

* * *

Yes, the shortest chapter yet. Sorry, this was a short cut scene, and there isn't any place to add dialogue, really, since the next scene has Henry explaining what he means almost immediately. Glad ya'll are still reading this! And thank you so much to PinkTribeChick, especially! Your reviews really add so much to the writing experience. but also thank you immensely to everyone who is getting alerts! When I see that notification in my inbox, I get really giddy!


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

Jasper turned to Maggie as they tried to keep up with Henry, "What is he _talking _about?"

Henry, having heard Jasper, turned around quickly before Maggie could comment, "We need to get into Dante's office. It's where he wants me to go, I'm sure of it." He turned back around and continued walking. Jasper turned to Maggie, clearly still not following.

"We were talking about what might have happened to the plant when you came up." She shrugged her shoulders, "but I don't know what he's talking about either."

Once they were away from prying ears, Henry proceeded to explain his thoughts. "When Dante said I never leave anything incomplete, he wasn't complementing me, he was telling me what to do. When Jasper called himself a replacement, I knew what Dante meant." He was following the wall of the building, Maggie had no idea where he was heading, since Dante's office wasn't easy to get to from the direction they were heading. The two boys were keeping an easy pace, but Maggie had to practically run to keep up with them. "There's an encyclopedia out there missing its P and he wants me to replace it." Jasper slowed a bit, it seemed almost unconscious on his part, but Maggie appreciated it nonetheless.

Maggie didn't understand why a missing encyclopedia P would lead them to Dante's office. "Well why are you so sure it's in his office?"

"Dante respected books, he would never take one from anybody especially part of a set." It became clear to Maggie then; since it was something she felt the same about.

"Unless it was _his _set."

* * *

They reached the ledge under Dante's old office, and Maggie looked up, _"_Wait, I thought we were going to Dante's office."

"We are," Henry lifted his shirt to reveal a wire hanger.

While she tried to figure out what he needed a hanger for, and what it had to do with Dante's office, she heard Jasper groan, "Oh no."

"Oh no?" Apparently Jasper knew more than she did now, and Maggie didn't like this change in the typical status quo. When it came to things with the three of them, Maggie always knew what was going on. But apparently, the boys were keeping things from her.

"We're going in the hard way," Jasper explained, though she noticed he didn't actually explain, as though afraid of voicing his concerns over what was going on in Henry's head.

Henry barely let Jasper finish his complaint before he explained further, "Julian convinced the museum board to give him Dante's space. We can't let _anyone_ see us going in or he may find out."

Maggie still had no idea what either of the boys were talking about. But they weren't paying attention to her obvious confusion since Jasper replied with what Maggie identified to be definite snark in his voice, "You know- this didn't exactly go so well for us the last time we tried it." She raised her eyebrows. When had they had an adventure without her? And why did Jasper think whatever was going on in Henry's mind was such a bad idea?

"We solved Dante's murder," Henry spoke again, and Maggie realized what they were talking about. The one mystery she hadn't been involved in, the one that, like Henry said, solved Dante's murder, and found the long lost USS Alligator. The one that made her realize there was more to Jas- to the Bartlett boys, than she originally thought.

"In a very life-endangering way." Jasper said it as thought he was not keen on trying it again; though who could blame him, she didn't even know what was in store, and she wasn't too keen on it. She knew that whatever it was, it had to be done for the sake of finding the missing plant. She was willing to go the extra mile, even if it meant having to use a wire hanger, if it meant helping Henry. She knew that Jasper felt the same way, he just knew what was in store for them, and didn't like it.

"So where do we go now?" She asked, still unsure of what Jasper was so against doing again. She was also unsure of what they were doing underneath Dante's old office.

"Up," Henry gave as his only excuse before positioning himself in one of the alcoves of the building, as though getting ready to climb. She couldn't believe he was serious; she looked around to see if anyone else was aware of this, and felt her mouth agape. She walked to where Henry was already beginning to climb and watched in awe for a second. She couldn't believe he was serious, but here he was, climbing the side of the building. It was just like when they were trapped in the well, only this time there was nothing to lean his back against, and she was expected to climb as well.

She could hear Jasper as her mind tried to work how she was going to make it up the wall the way Henry was. "Oh man, I think I pulled a hamstring the last time we did this."

She decided to stop thinking about it, and just have at it. Her mother had raised her to accept any challenge, no matter how miniscule, or how hard. Maggie imagined it was from all the times they had had to move because of the military; to places unknown and to people she'd never met. Not having friends was frivolous in comparison to the things her father did for their country, and Maggie had always understood that. But trying hard to succeed at every challenge was why she always fought back for highest GPA against Jasper, even though it was hard at times, and why she kept trying to solve these mysteries. She always favored the option to jump right into whatever it was she was thinking too hard about. At least when it came to things like scaling the side of a stone wall without anything to catch her if she fell. Not things like Jasper Bartlett asking her out.

She closed her eyes and quickly positioned herself like Henry and began to climb; it was simple in form, really, "embrace the thrill, Jasper." At least that was what she was telling herself to not focus on the pain this uncommon exercise was sure to bring, and to not focus on where her thoughts had brought her seconds before.

She heard him grappling beneath her, but was too focused on leaning her body right so as not to tip one way or the other. And on hoping no one looked out one of the windows they were passing.

* * *

Okay, I edited this after I posted it, so I hope this is better than it was, if not please let me know. I'm great at accepting constructive criticism! And thank you again PinkTribeChick for pointing out my last chapter for what it was. I only hope the revisions have fixed the problem.

Thanks to everyone else who has reviewed or added this story to your alerts! You make me feel special!


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

Once they climbed to the top of the wall, Henry easily flung himself onto the landing. Maggie had a bit of trouble, but he reached down and helped her pull herself up. As she dusted herself off and looked around, Henry began fiddling with the wire hanger, stretching it out to make a makeshift hook to pull the latch on the window. She looked around to make sure no one could see them outside the office. She heard Jasper as he tried getting a firm grip to pull himself up, "Don't worry about _me_, I got this."

As Jasper panted his way up the wall, Henry continued to fiddle with the hanger, "He might need a little help," he said without even looking up from what he was doing. Maggie turned towards Jasper, but was somewhat surprised he had already nearly jumped over the wall. Subconsciously she knew why she did what she did, but she would never admit it to herself. Even though he was already over the wall, and nearly standing strait again, she put her hand on his arm and grabbed hold. She felt his biceps flex under the strain of excursion he was putting on them. She felt herself flush, but also noticed that he didn't even seem fazed that she was touching him completely unnecessarily. Then again why would he, he always did the same thing to her, almost like he was itching for an excuse to touch her. No, she was reading too much into this. She felt her face flush even redder and removed her hand once he got his bearings.

"That was easier than my thighs remembered," he said as he hopped down and stood strait again. Maggie quickly made her way to the window so that she could cool herself down, away from him.

"That's because you're the kind of guy who gives it all he's got." Henry seemed to almost not even pay attention to Jasper as he told him this.

Maggie began to look at one of the longer windows as Henry put the straightened wire hanger through another window, trying to unlatch it. But Jasper stood there, looking devastated, "oh no, my dad did not say that to you."

"How'd you know?" Henry didn't even take his eyes off what he was doing as he responded to Jasper, completely oblivious that he was probably doing more damage than good.

"Because I heard it at every little league game. 'You really gave it all you got, Jas." He mocked his father's voice. Maggie knew he thought it meant his father wasn't proud of him, but Maggie knew otherwise. She'd seen Mr. Bartlett when Jasper played a game, she could see in his eyes that he was proud of his son. Not only that, but her own father told her every time he could that he was proud of her. Well not in so many words, but he had his way. She trusted in the fact that her father was proud of her. Something Jasper hadn't been able to do, it seemed.

She tried to convince Jasper of that, "that's sweet, he was proud of you." She said, finally able to look at him again without a blush.

"Clearly you don't speak parent. That's code for 'my kid is the biggest dork on the field.'" He looked at her very demeaningly, as though she were the stupid one for not understanding. But right at that moment, he was making a pretty decent fool of himself.

She didn't let it bother her like it normally did when he talked to her like that, since she knew what his mood was stemming from: hurt that his father had told Henry something that Jasper deemed a horrible description of himself. "I think you're overreacting."

His watch beeped before he could reply, "I think I'm muscle building. No more dorkdom. I am getting stronger every 42 minutes." Maggie watched him tear into one of his protein bars.

"True power lies not within strength, but in knowledge." Henry was hanging half in the window, trying to unlatch the door. Finally, Maggie felt the latch lift and was able to open the window to walk into the office.

With his mouth full of protein bar, Jasper sarcastically said, "let me guess, Buddha?" Before walking into the office after her. Henry, thankfully, knew better than to respond.

* * *

**A/N: **Hey everyone, I'm so sorry this took so long. Classes started last week, which means I started work the week before, (I work at an info center on my campus and with orientation they needed more of us to work) but I've been so busy that the only thing I've had time to do is sleep. It doesn't really help that I have zero discipline... So I'm really sorry, but here's chapter seven, please forgive me! It's a lot shorter than normal, but I wanted to give ya'll something.

Also, thank all of ya'll for being so awesome and supportive, and adding me to alerts and favorites lists even though I haven't updated in a long while.

I appreciate constructive criticism, so even if you didn't like it, PLEASE respond and tell me what you didn't like. I really appreciate it, and it helps make the story better for ya'll.


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